


Changing Our Destiny: Burnt Memories

by SoulSlayer



Series: Changing Our Destiny - Season 1 (A Destiny AU) [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulSlayer/pseuds/SoulSlayer
Summary: While on a mission to stop a Hive ritual on the moon, Fireteam Paralight receive a call from a mysterious stranger asking them to meet her on Venus. There, they're informed of the Black Garden where the key to helping the Traveller heal lies. But in order to get there, they must seek the help of the Reefborn Awoken. Yet when they receive counsel of the Queen and her brother, something seems to rattle Blaze to her core...
Relationships: Female Guardian/Uldren Sov, Male Guardian/Petra Venj
Series: Changing Our Destiny - Season 1 (A Destiny AU) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775149
Kudos: 8





	1. The Exo, the Prince, & the Queen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While on a mission to stop a Hive ritual on the moon, Fireteam Paralight receive a call from a mysterious stranger asking them to meet her on Venus. There, they're informed of the Black Garden where the key to helping the Traveller heal lies. But in order to get there, they must seek the help of the Reefborn Awoken.

_It’s been a little over a week since Fireteam Paralight had completed their first mission together as a group. After discovering a race called the Hive have begun attacking Earth, the three guardians have begun scouring the Moon, which was given up to the Hive centuries ago, for answers. As the past few days have rolled by, the small group has learned to work together in unison and harmony…_

_…is what one would wish to say, but this is Fireteam Paralight we’re talking about._

**“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”**

**“NOTHING!!! I SWEAR?!”**

**“SO WHERE DID THAT GIANT OGRE COME FROM?!”**

**“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!”**

Fireteam Paralight were attempting to halt a ritual being performed by Hive witches to drain the Traveller’s Light, when they were attacked by Telthor, a Hive ogre. The two guardians’ argument was interrupted as they narrowly dodged a series of void beams from said ogre. “What’s the plan, oh fearless leader?” Blaze yelled as she ducked behind a pillar. “Keep your distance, dodge the beams, and for the love of Light, do not die!” Rae yelled back from atop one of the flights of stairs as she lobbed a vortex grenade at the ogre.

“And it’s because of those genius strategies, we made you the leader. And here I was doubting Warlocks were smart!”

“If you have a better plan, be my guest!”

Rae saw Blaze perk up at her statement, “Not an invitation! Don’t do anything stupid!”

Blaze groaned in response as Rae continued, “I’ll get up high and try and snipe him from above. Blaze, try to keep his attention on you while Adam flanks him.”

“Now THAT’S a good plan!” Blaze smirked behind her helmet as she leapt out from behind the pillar and began to run past the ogre, shooting at it with her hand cannon, “Oi, ugly! Over here!!” As the ogre turned to face Blaze, Adam emerged from where he was taking cover began to shoot at it with his pulse rifle. Meanwhile, Rae got to the highest point she could find and took aim with her sniper rifle, “Keep him steady guys! I need to get a clean shot!”

“Let him have it!”

***BANG!***

* * *

“Phew…thank the Traveller that’s over…I never wanna see another Hive again!” Blaze sighed as she, Rae and Adam walked out of the temple. “We’re not done yet, unfortunately.” Rae added, “We still need to investigate what our new friend told us…”

_*Earlier…*_

“I hate this temple with a passion.” Blaze grumbled as Fireteam Paralight sped along the moon’s surface to the Temple of Crota on their Sparrows. “Me too.” Rae replied, “But the Speaker says that if we don’t stop the Hive from performing this ritual, the Traveller will lose its Light. And to do that, we need to go down into the temple.”

“Rae, someone’s trying to establish contact.” Ghost spoke up, “Could be the Speaker.”

“Please tell me another Fireteam has already taken care of the ritual and we can go home!” Blaze begged. “Patch it through.” Rae replied to Ghost. But the only sounds that followed were heavily distorted white noise. “Let’s get out in the open. I’ll have a better chance of locking this signal.” Ghost advised. “Roger that. There’s a clearing outside the temple. We’ll try there.” Rae replied. As the three guardians parked their Sparrows outside the temple, Ghost appeared beside Rae and began to expand and glow, trying to get a clear signal. Finally a female voice was heard through the noise, “You’re interesting. Not entirely interesting, but…you have promise.”

“Ok…that is definitely NOT the Speaker.” Blaze commented. “Who is that?” Rae asked. “I don’t know…” Ghost replied, “I’m losing the signal…”

“Guardians,” The voice continued, “I know what you are about to do. It’s brave. But there are enemies out here you would not believe.”

“Oh wonderful…” Blaze groaned. “Shh!” Rae hushed the Hunter before addressing the voice again, “Out where?”

The voice remained silent for a moment before saying, “Go down and face the Hive and if you live, come find me.”

Ghost then reverted to his smaller form, “Signal dropped. I got some broken coordinates – Venus, Northern hemisphere, Ishtar region.”

“Venus, huh? Can’t be much worse than the moon!” Blaze laughed, “…right?”

Before anyone could reply, a large roar was heard from the temple. “Great. What do we do now?” Ghost asked. Rae began to walk towards the temple entrance, “We go down.”

_*The next day*_

**“I WAS WRONG! VENUS IS WAY WORSE THAN THE MOON!!!”**

Fireteam Paralight stood back-to-back as they faced the oncoming hoards of Vex. “No kidding!” Rae yelled over the gunfire, “At least we could keep track of the Hive. These guys keep teleporting everywhere!” Blaze took aim at a Vex goblin’s head and fired, hitting it dead on, “Ha! Bullsey- wait.” Blaze stared on in shock as the goblin, now with no head, came charging at her, “Oh come on!!”

Rae blasted the goblin’s chest, causing it to go down. “These aren’t like the other enemies! The weak spot is the chest area, not the head!” Rae yelled. “Great! Now I don’t know which I hate more; Hive or Vex!” Blaze growled as she activated her super. Her hand cannon began to glow and catch fire as she began shooting the incoming goblins and hobgoblins in their chests, causing them to catch fire, as the last of the hoard fell. “There. That should do it.” Blaze sighed as Firefly appeared beside her, “Those things were scary!”

“Ah, don’t worry, Fly. I’ll protect ya!” Blaze patted her Ghost on the head. Meanwhile Ghost and Stormbringer also appeared and began floating around the corpses of the Vex. “What are these things?” Ghost exclaimed, “Are there any still intact that I can analyse?!”

“I uh…I think I roasted them pretty bad…sorry.” Blaze scratched her neck sheepishly. “Hey, better them than us, right?” Rae shrugged with a smile.

“Well fought.”

The guardians and their Ghosts whipped around to see a white Exo standing atop a flight of stairs. “You’re here.” Rae spoke up as the figure approached. “We haven’t got much time.” The Exo stated as she walked by them. “Who the heck are you anyways?” Blaze asked. “Why have you been watching us?” Stormbringer added. “I don’t even have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain.” The Exo looked to the side slightly and muttered, “I will. I will. I know.”

“Will what?” Ghost asked, confused. The Exo turned to face Ghost, “I wasn’t talking to you, little light.”

“I’m a Ghost, actually.”

The Exo approached the other guardians, “Many guardians fell. Strong ones. But you made it here-“ The Exo seemed to cut herself off as she looked over her shoulder slightly, “Yes, I’m listening. They are here. With me.”

“Who’s she talking to?” Firefly asked. Blaze just shrugged in response as the Exo continued muttering. “Understood.” The Exo faced the guardians once more, “You need my help, guardians.”

“Is that why you brought us here?” Rae asked. “They brought us here.” The Exo corrected as she walked over to a burnt yet still twitching goblin, “The Vex. Evil so dark it despises other evil.”

“You’re not a Guardian.” Stormbringer spoke up. “No. I was not forged in Light. But I believe where our paths cross…” The Exo put a foot on the goblin’s chest, “Ground…could break.” She pushed down hard on its chest, crushing it and killing the goblin. She turned and looked at the three guardians, “Have you heard of the Black Garden?”

“I’ve heard the legends.” Blaze replied, “What about it?”

“The greatest threat to us all lies there, where these machines are born. Find the Black Garden, rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveller begin to heal.”

“Can you help us find it?” Rae asked, “We can use all the help we can get.”

“My path’s my own. I can’t.”

“If we’re going to find the Black Garden…” Stormbringer began, “We need to see the Awoken.”

“Oh lovely. That will end well.” Blaze mumbled. “Is there a problem?” Rae asked, concerned. “The Awoken aren’t so…welcoming to Guardians.” Blaze replied, “I doubt they’ll be ecstatic to see us, let alone help us.”

“Ah, yes. The Awoken.” The Exo began, “Out there wavering between the Light and the Dark. A side should always be taken, little light." She then turned to Blaze, "Even if it’s the wrong side.”

Blaze raised an eyebrow in confusion as the Exo turned away again, distracted by something, “Too late, returning. How many?” The Exo then began to walk away while pulling out a dagger, “Hold position, kill the engines and don’t let them find you.” She then disappeared in a flash. “So,” Rae began, “How do we find the Awoken?”

“From what I've heard, they live all the way out at the edge of the system.” Blaze replied, “Last place the Light touches.”

“Can’t we just stay here with the murderous robots!?” Ghost begged. “No, Little Light.” Rae replied with a chuckle, earning a laugh from Blaze and Firefly. “Don’t do that.” Ghost glared at Rae.

* * *

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“…are we there yet?”

“No.”

“……are we-?”

“No, Blaze, we aren’t!” Stormbringer scolded as the three guardians flew their ships through ruins of spacecraft floating among the stars. “Sorry!” Blaze groaned, “I just don’t know which is torturing me more; the boredom or the nervousness on how the Awoken are gonna react to a team of guardians showing up out of nowhere.”

“As long as we show we aren’t a threat, we should be fine.” Rae replied, “Where did all this come from anyway?”

“Every ship that could escape fled Earth during the Collapse.” Ghost explained, “They made it this far. I guess they died out here.”

“It’s a graveyard…how did the Awoken survive?”

“No one knows.”

“Guys, we got company!” Blaze announced as two unknown ships pulled up alongside the guardians’ ships. “Intruder bearing 127. You have crossed into the realm of the Awoken.” A voice announced through the guardians’ communicators, “State your business or be fired upon by order of the Queen.”

“Don’t look at me.” Ghost whispered, “Better say something.”

“I’ll handle it.” Blaze volunteered before speaking to the ships though her own communicator, “I am Blaisel Kiria, I’m an Awoken and member of Fireteam Paralight. We are from Earth and wish to seek the counsel of the Awoken.” There was silence for what felt like years before a reply was heard, “Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation will be taken as an act of aggression.”

“Looks like we’re in the right place.” Rae smiled, “Nice job, Blaze!”

“Was there any doubt?” Blaze smirked. “Why is the right place always so terrifying…?” Ghost muttered.

* * *

Rae walked down a walkway towards a large throne, Ghost by her side. Following behind her was Adam, Stormbringer, Blaze, Firefly and two Awoken guards. They had been ordered to leave any weapons on their ships. Standing in front of the throne was an ice blue Awoken with short jet-black hair, white facial markings and orange eyes. He wore brown leather armour with matching boots and gloves and a long, tattered cape. He looked down at Rae, “So these are the trespassers demanding an audience.”

“We didn’t mean to trespass.” Ghost piped up. “The Queen herself judges who may or may not enter the realm.” The Awoken began, as he walked down the steps of the throne, “Me, I see no reason she should be available for whatever washes up at the Reef. But here we are.”

“We’ve come to ask for help.” Rae spoke. Suddenly her eyes were drawn to the throne where she saw two fallen emerge from behind, armed with spears. “Fallen!” Ghost warned. Blaze, acting on impulse, grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a gun belonging to one of the guards. She pushed past Adam and Rae and was about to aim it at the Fallen, but the Awoken, who seemed to only now notice Blaze’s presence, quickly grabbed her arm which held the gun with one hand and held a dagger at her throat with the other. He glared at her, but his expression changed to one of confusion when he got a good look at her, “You…how-?”

“Hey!! Leave Blazie alone, you bully!” Firefly zipped in between the Awoken and Blaze. The awoken’s expression returned to a glare.

“It is afraid of the Fallen.”

Rae looked past the two Awoken to see a female Awoken now standing in front of the throne. She also had ice blue skin and had bright blue eyes and white hair. She wore purple robes with black leather armour and a black fur collar. “It does not understand these ones are mine.” She said as she sat upon the throne. “Who is she calling an ‘it’?” Stormbringer mumbled. “Blaze. Stand down. The Fallen aren’t a threat.” Rae ordered Blaze, who was still at blade-point. “I will…when he does.” Blaze replied, still glaring at the Awoken. “Blaze. You pulled the gun first, and it’s not even yours. Stand down. Now.” Rae warned. Blaze remained still for a moment before sighing in defeat and pulling away from the lock before handing the gun back to the guard, “Sorry. Reflexes.” The guard just snatched the gun out of her hand as the Awoken stepped away from Blaze, turning to face the female on the throne, “Apologies…Your Grace.”

Rae stepped in front of Blaze, “I apologise on behalf of my teammate. I assure you, she only meant to protect me. She didn’t mean any disrespect. Right, Blaze?”

“Yeah…” Blaze muttered. “I am Raegalia Drakyx of Fireteam Paralight. Rae for short.” Rae continued, “We are Guardians. From Earth. We’re searching for the Black Garden.”

The male Awoken faced them with a scowl, “Why?”

“We seek to destroy the Darkness at its heart.”

“You want to turn it into a battleground. How unimaginative.”

Blaze clenched her fists tightly. Adam placed a hand on the irritated Hunter’s shoulder but seemed just as irritated as she was at the Awoken’s attitude.

“Do you know where it is?” Rae asked, trying to remain calm.

“Everyone knows where it is. The hard part is getting in.”

“Can you help us?”

“And why would we do that!?” The Awoken was now intimidatingly close to Rae. Blaze was struggling to hold back the urge to shove him away from Rae. _‘Who the heck does this guy think he is? The freaking prince or something?!’_ Blaze thought to herself. “The Queen requests counsel with her brother.” The Queen spoke up.

_‘Oh…he **is** the prince…’_

The prince turned away from Rae and approached the throne where the two discussed in hushed voices for a moment before both looking at the group of guardians. The prince then chuckled, “Yes, that’s good. That’s good.” He then stood up, turning to face the group, “Why not? We’ll make you a key! How’s that? All we need is the head of a Vex Gate Lord…”

“A Gate Lord…” Ghost began to sound nervous, “Uh, we…”

“Why do you want a Vex head?” Blaze asked, stepping forward so she was beside Rae. “Oh, we don’t.” The prince replied, “And I’ll doubt we’ll get one either. But it’s your only hope of getting into the Black Garden.”

“We will return.” Rae stated, putting a hand on Blaze’s shoulder. “Or die on Venus. Either way.” The prince replied. Blaze let out a low growl as Rae and Adam turned to leave with the guards. Blaze glared at the prince, who had his back turned to her, before turning to leave. But as she was doing so…

“Oh, and Blaisel? I hope you’re taking care of the ring you were given.”

Blaze froze in her tracks, her eyes wide as she felt her heart drop. She was broken out of her shocked stupor when Rae called her name, “Blaze? C’mon, we’re leaving.”

“Uh, r-right! I-I’m coming!” Blaze glanced behind her at the prince, who had his back to her, before running to catch up with her fellow teammates. Rae noticed the sudden change in Blaze’s demeanour, “Blaze? What’s wrong? Are you al-?”

“I’m fine!” Blaze snapped, realising how loud and harsh she sounded before correcting herself, “I mean, yeah. I’m ok. Let’s just get back to the tower to regroup.” Blaze walked on a few feet ahead of the group as the made their way back to the ships. Rae looked at Adam who seemed just as confused and concerned as she was. The three entered the ships and left the Reef, flying back to Earth.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Ashes of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon arriving back on Earth, Blaze seems extremely irritated and is refusing to return to Venus or the Reef with Rae and Adam. Upon hearing about this, Cayde takes Rae to an abandoned quarry outside the city to see if they can figure out why Blaze is so upset.

“Blaze, wait up!”

The three Guardians had just exited their ships after landing in the tower’s hanger and Blaze had begun to leave the hanger ahead of Rae and Adam. Rae ran after her, followed by Adam, “Blaze, hold up! I know something’s bothering-”

“You’ve bugged me about this a hundred times since we’ve left the Reef. And for the hundredth time: I. Am. Fine.” Blaze grumbled back.

“The prince mentioned something about a ring. Does he know you?”

Blaze stopped in her tracks, her back still facing away from her team. “He knows you, doesn’t he?” Rae’s eyes lit up, “Blaze, this might be a good thing! If we can get that Vex head, maybe we can ask him about your past and he can-!”

**“SHUT UP!!!”**

Everyone in the hanger fell silent. Rae and Adam just stared at Blaze in shock as she spun around to face them, a furious expression on her face, “I don’t care! Alright?! I don’t care about the stinkin' prince! I don’t care about the stinkin' Reef! I don’t care about my stinkin' past! I. DON’T. CARE!!!” Blaze yelled, “I am happy with who I am, and I don’t care about what a stuck-up, royal pain of an Awoken knows about me! If you two want to go and get yourselves killed by fighting a giant robot monster, then be my freaking guest! But I’m sitting this one out! I’m not going to Venus or the Reef! Got it?! Go find another Hunter with a death wish!” Blaze began to turn to walk away, but Rae reached out to grab her hand. “Blaze, wai-GYAH!” Rae quickly pulled her hand away as a scorching pain surged through her hand. Rae looked down at her hand and saw scorch marks with some smoke coming from them on the palm of her glove. Blaze stared at Rae’s hand with a mix of shock and concern before shaking her head and storming off, “I’m going out. DON’T follow me!”

“Blaze!” Rae went to go after her but was stopped by Adam putting his hand on her shoulder and shaking his head. Stormbringer appeared Adam and floated to Rae, “It’s best to leave her be. When she gets upset or angry, she needs time to cool off. However…” Stormbringer glanced to where Blaze stormed out of the hanger, “I’ve never seen her that upset before.”

Rae sighed in defeat, “Alright. Let’s go and report what we found to the Vanguard.”

* * *

“So in exchange for a Vex Gate Lord’s head, the Awoken will make us a key to the Black Garden.” Rae explained. “I see. Good job, you two.” Ikora Rey gave the two Guardian’s an approving nod. “So on another topic,” Cayde began, glancing around the room, “Where’s Blaze? She’s usually here bragging about the amount of kills she bagged.”

“Blaze…” Rae began nervously, “…isn’t in a good mood. It’s my fault. The Awoken prince mentioned something that hinted at him knowing Blaze’s past before she died. She seemed shaken and I wouldn’t drop the subject. Things got heated – literally.” Rae lifted her hand, showing the scorches on her glove, “Now she’s refusing to come with us to kill the Gate Lord or even return to the Reef to present it, should we succeed.”

“She got that mad, huh?” Cayde muttered, before walking towards the exit, “Ok, Mr. Strong-and-Silent, you stay here in case she comes back. Rae, you’re with me. I think I know where she’s gone to.”

“Cayde,” Zavala began, “Our meeting is-”

“Not as important as the well-being of one of my Hunters right now.” Cayde cut Zavala off as he left the room with Rae in tow, “Run it by me when I get back.”

* * *

“Where are we going?” Rae asked as she and Cayde sped across the plains outside the City upon their Sparrows, “We’ve travelled a few miles out now.”

“If I know Blaze, which I do,” Cayde began, “It’s that the kid loves three things; showing off, ramen, and riding her Sparrow. And when she gets angry, she rides it to cool off - literally. So I have a good idea as to where she's wandered off to.”

"I've never seen her like that. I mean, I've seen her pissed off but...never like that."

"Blaze tens to react that way when people bug her about her past. Zavala discourages Guardians from lookin' into their past lives - keeps 'em from going on wild goose chases. Blaze takes it to the next level. She doesn't just 'not care' about her past, she actively avoids it. Any mention of her past and she goes into fight or flight. Or rather, fight THEN flight."

"Why does she avoid it?"

"Nobody knows. Ah, here we are!"

Rae and Cayde arrived at an enormous rocky crater with dirt ramps leading down into it. Large piles of loose dirt and gravel lay at the bottom.

“What is this place?”

“From what I remember, it’s a quarry that was abandoned centuries ago.” Cayde explained, getting off his Sparrow, “Now it’s used-”

*vrrrrooooOOOOOOOOMMM!!!*

Another Sparrow flew by the two Guardians as it sped down the quarry lanes. “By Blaze.” Cayde finished, “When Blaze first came here, her temper was set off much easier, to the point where she’d even snap at Zavala. So we needed a way to keep her anger in check and to stop those heat powers of hers from hurting people when she does. So Ikora had fire and heat proof armour made, Zavala assigned Adam to keep a close eye on her and help her if her temper gets out of control, and as for me, I showed her this place. She always comes down here when she needs to let off steam or even just practise doing tricks.”

“She’s really talented at it. Riding the Sparrow, I mean.” Rae noted, "How does she do that anyway? When I tried to grab her arm, my glove got burnt. It didn't feel like solar energy."

"No clue. Not even she knows to be honest. Ikora's looked into it but no dice."

Rae watched as Blaze sped around the tracks, going up ramps and doing tricks and spins in mid-air before finally grinding to a halt beside Cayde and Rae. Still on her Sparrow, Blaze removed her hood and helmet, refusing to meet the gaze of either Guardians, “I told you not to follow me.”

“She didn’t.” Cayde replied, “I told her to follow me. And I didn’t follow you, ‘cause I just assumed you’d be here.”

“I’m not in the mood for this, Cayde.”

“Alright. But are you in the mood for ramen?”

“…”

* * *

The guardians sat in silence at Spicy Ramen, eating the food they ordered. Blaze was the first to break the silence, “If this is an attempt to get me to talk about my past, it ain’t gonna-”

“It’s not.” Rae replied, “I wanted to apologise.” Blaze stared at Rae in surprise as she continued, “I kept bugging you and didn’t consider how you felt about it. I shouldn’t have bugged you about it so much. I’m sorry, Blaze.”

Blaze sighed, “Nah. I’m the one that should be sorry. I snapped at you and overreacted. I shouldn’t have yelled at you and Adam like that. I didn’t hurt your hand too badly, did I?”

“Eh. I’ll live.” Rae chuckled, “What was that anyway?”

“I dunno. I’ve been able to do it ever since I was revived. I can control it a bit, but it happens on its own when I get angry.” Blaze explained. She held up her index finger and the markings on her face began to glow as a small flame appeared on the tip of her finger before disappearing, “I can make bigger flames, but I don’t want to burn down the restaurant. Luckily my skin only heated up when I got mad earlier. Sometimes I get so angry that I became a living fireball. It, uh...it ain't pretty.”

“Well…I’m still sorry about earlier.” Rae apologised, “If you don’t want to come with us to the Reef, that’s okay. But we could use the help of our hot-shot Hunter on Venus.” Blaze chuckled lightly in response before falling silent again, “I…I haven’t been fully honest.”

“What do you mean?” Cayde asked, confused. “I said I didn’t have any of my memories.” Blaze replied, “I lied. I do have…one.” Blaze reached inside the turtleneck of the black one-piece she wore under her armour and pulled out a small silver chain. On the chain was a small silver ring with a shiny fire agate stone embedded in the metal. On the inside of the ring, tiny words were engraved: ‘Blaisel Kiria. My phoenix.’

“Is that the ring the prince was talking about?” Rae asked. “I think so.” Blaze replied, “My only memory is when I got this ring. It’s fuzzy…but I remember being in the Reef and looking at the stars. When I looked down, I saw this ring in my hand. It was muffled, but I heard a voice say, ‘As long as you keep it with you, I’ll be right beside you…I promise’. Everything before or after that is completely blank.” Blaze tucked the chain inside her suit again, “That’s the reason I don’t want to remember my past.”

“Wait. Let me see if I got this right.” Cayde interrupted, “So…your only memory is of someone you don’t remember, who seems to be very close to you and possibly knows the Awoken prince, giving you this ring…and that’s why you don’t want to remember anything.”

“I’m with Cayde.” Rae added, “You’re not making a lot of sense here. Wouldn’t you want to remember who gave you the ring?”

“I do!” Blaze replied, “But…I know it sounds dumb…but that memory…every time I think about it, it makes me happy…like really happy! The reason I don’t want to remember the rest of my past is…what if everything else isn't? What if I wasn’t a good person in my past? I don’t want to risk a ton of bad memories ruining that one good memory…” The table fell silent.

“…back up to go forward.” Rae spoke up.

“Huh?” Blaze raised an eyebrow. “It was engraved in the leather at the back of my journal. Usually things have to get worse to get better. Which, now that I think about it, applies to our team a lot. We tend to always make the situation worse before fixing it.”

“Well…I usually make it worse, heheh…” Blaze chuckled nervously. “But that’s the thing.” Rae continued, “We still come out on top in the end, don’t we? And I think that applies to your memories.”

“What do you mean?”

“Say your past really isn’t so great. That most of your memories do turn out to be bad. But you can learn from them. You can see what went wrong in those memories and make sure they don’t happen again. And even if the memories make you sad, you not only still have that one good memory, but you can also make more good memories now. I mean, you’ve made loads of good memories already here with us!”

“Heh…you got a point…”

“Rae’s right, y'know.” Cayde agreed, “I don’t even want to think about how many mistakes I would’ve repeated if I didn’t have my journal. After all, that how we grow, right? Learn from your mistakes and all that.”

Blaze was silent for a while until she sighed in defeat, “I…I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to remember my past…but I have a feeling it’s gonna catch up to me eventually…I’ll come with you to Venus and the Reef. I’m still scared out of my mind about knowing who I used to be but I feel like having my fireteam beside me…will make it not as bad.”

“Aww, c’mere you!!” Rae gave Blaze a big bear hug. “GAH! H-hey! Rae!”

“Let me in on the action!”

Cayde wrapped one arm around Blaze’s neck and gave her head a playful noogie.

“URK! Cayde?! ACK! Guys! C-c’mon! Knock it off! You’re embarrassing me!”

“Nope! It’s hug time!”

“Deal with it, Blaze!”

“Q-QUIT IT! GUYS!!”

* * *

Adam was pacing back and forth in the meeting room as Ikora and Zavala read through several reports on the Awoken.

“S’up? Hope you guys didn’t miss me too much!”

Adam looked up to see Blaze walking in alongside Cayde and Rae, her signature smile on her face. “Welcome back. I trust you’ve calmed down?” Zavala spoke, looking up from the report he was reading. “Aw, you care ‘bout me or somethin’, Commander?” Blaze grinned. Zavala just sighed as Ikora spoke up, “Good to see you’re alright. It was getting too quiet here.” Ikora chuckled, “But on a serious note, I was able to find a bit of information on the Awoken queen and prince.” Ikora handed Rae a tablet she was holding which had information showing on it, “The queen is Mara Sov. Intelligent and proud but can be cold and ruthless. She isn’t above helping others but expects to be paid back in return. She usually keeps her motivations…unclear.”

“And the prince?”

“Prince Uldren Sov. The queen’s brother and counsellor. Known for being cunning, intelligent, clever, and loyal to the Reef, but acts coldly towards outsiders.”

“Make sure to add arrogant, smug and condescending, handsome- what?” Blaze cut herself off, surprising herself with what she said, earning a snicker from Cayde and Rae. “Noted.” Ikora smirked slightly, “We weren’t able to find much information about the Black Garden or the Vex. However, there may be more information available on Venus.”

“Right. We’ll head down to Venus first thing tomorrow morning and see what we can find.” Rae replied, handing the tablet back to Ikora, “We’ll report back any findings we come across.”

“Good luck, you three.”

Paralight began to leave the room, Cayde attempting to casually sneak out with them, but was stopped by Ikora tugging on his cloak.

“Nice try, Cayde.”

_To Be Continued…_


	3. A Phoenix's Wrath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Blaze back on board for their mission, Fireteam Paralight set off to Venus to defeat the Vex Gate Lord and bring its head back to the Awoken. But they soon realise this mission is easily said than done…

“The more we learn about the Vex, the more I understand why our Exo friend is so worried about them.”

Fireteam Paralight warped through the stars as Ghost recapped over what they learned during their time on Venus, “During the Collapse, the Vex transformed the planet Mercury into a machine in days. They would have spread to every planet if the Traveller hadn’t stopped them.”

“Isn’t Mercury already metal?” Blaze asked, “It wouldn’t be that hard. Then again, it is a liquid…”

“That’s the element you’re thinking of, Blaze.” Rae replied, “Mercury is a garden planet…or was anyway…”

“You sure you’re okay with going on this mission, Blazie?” Firefly piped up. “Yeah.” Blaze nodded, “I mean, miss out on taking out a giant robot? No chance! Plus, I kinda want to see Uldren’s face when we bring the head back. We’re gonna wipe that smug grin of his right off his stupid face!”

“I thought you said he was handsome back at the Tow-"

"SHUT UP! I said nothin'!" Blaze squeaked, cutting off Rae who just chuckled in response as their jumpships descended upon Venus.

* * *

“Here we are.”

Rae, Adam, Blaze and their Ghosts approached a large Vex gate. “So now what?” Rae asked. “I think you’re going to have to step inside the ring.” Ghost replied. Rae looked down at the ring which lay a few feet in front of the group, red lights illuminating the edges. “So what’s the plan?” Blaze faced Rae. “Two of us will get into tactical positions while one of us steps in the ring.” Rae explained, “Blaze, you and I are more suited to fighting at a distance. I’ll get up on one of the pillars where I can get a good shot at it. You stay near the base of the pillars where you can get cover while fighting the Gate Lord. Adam, you’re gonna step in the ring. As soon as the Gate Lord appears, there’s no doubt other Vex are gonna swarm the area, so can you watch our backs?”

Adam gave a confident nod. “Alright then. Places, Fireteam Paralight. It’s now or never.” Rae began to scale a large nearby pillar while Blaze ducked behind another smaller one, sidearm at the ready, “Ready when you are, bud!”

Adam took a deep breath and stepped into the ring. The red lights turned white as the gate began to glow. “Here we go.” Stormbringer announced as the Gate Lord began to materialise. “No turning back now!” Rae yelled, “Let’s do this!”

“Showtime!” Blaze cheered. As the Gate Lord fully formed and dropped to the ground, Rae felt the familiar tingle of void energy through her arm as she lobbed a vortex grenade at the giant Vex, “Vortex incoming!” The vortex hit the Vex square in the chest, doing significant damage to the Gate Lord. “Ok, so same as the usual Vex. The weak spot is the chest.”

“Goblins on our six!” Blaze called out. Adam spun around and began shooting them down with his pulse rifle. “Thanks, Adam!” Rae waved to Adam. “Rae, watch-!” Blaze attempted to warn Rae, but it was too late. A blast from the Gate Lord’s gun sent her flying off the pillar, causing her to fall to the ground with a thump, letting out a pained grunt as she did. “Damn it!” Blaze cursed, “Adam, cover Rae! I’ll distract this bucket of bolts!” Adam nodded in response before running over to Rae and setting up a shield to protect her as she struggled to get to her feet. “Pain…all over…ow…” Rae groaned.

Blaze dashed from pillar to pillar, ducking and weaving between the incoming blasts. Blaze let out a whoop as she fired a couple rounds at its feet. "Can you dance, sir?" Blaze laughed, "Have you got the footwork?"

'Why...why does that sound familiar...?' Blaze quickly shook the thought from her head as she went to fire at the Gate Lord.

_*click, click, click!*_

“Not again!” Blaze exclaimed. As Blaze began to panic, the Gate Lord noticed the struggling Warlock and the Titan who was too busy dealing with the oncoming waves of Vex to notice the Gate Lord heading towards them. Adam’s shield had weakened severely due to the seemingly endless Vex attacks. Blaze’s eyes went wide as she saw the Gate Lord take aim at her teammates. Blaze felt her skin begin to heat up as she let out a roar, “Oh, HELL NO!!” Blaze ran towards the Vex, dagger drawn, and began to climb the Vex’s leg until she got to the weak spot on its chest, “Eat this, you mix of bolts and milk!!!” Blaze’s hands erupted into flames, causing the dagger to follow suit, and stabbed it straight into the Gate Lord’s chest. It let out a shriek of pain as it began to thrash around, firing its gun wildly with one hand and violently clawing at Blaze with the other. Blaze clung to her dagger for dear life, wincing at the near-unbearable pain of the Vex clawing at he as it slammed itself into anything it could find but still managing to hang on tight. The rest of the Vex retreated upon seeing the Gate Lord thrash around erratically as Adam and Blaze whipped around to face it upon hearing its shriek. “Is Blaze nuts?! She’s gonna get herself killed!!!” Rae exclaimed as she watched Blaze cling on to the enraged Gate Lord. "Just...DIE ALREADY!!!" With an enraged yell, Blaze’s entire body was engulfed in a roaring inferno as two wing-like flames erupted from her back. Blaze pulled her arm back and jammed her flaming hand into the Gate Lord’s chest, the rush of adrenaline allowing her to block out the immense pain of the metal scraping against her arm and the sting of Radiolarian fluid. The Gate Lord let out a bloodcurdling scream-like sound before going completely limp and collapsing backwards onto the ground.

The flames around Blaze subsided as she yanked her arm and dagger out of the Vex, grasping her arm as the pain slowly began to register. She attempted to get to her feet but stumbled backwards and fell. “Blaze!!” Rae ran towards the Awoken Hunter and knelt beside her, “Blaze?! Are you ok?! Say something!”

“...r what…” Blaze mumbled groggily. “What? I-I can’t...”

Blaze let out a cough, causing a small cloud of smoke to come out of her mouth, as she grinned, “Did…did I look cool, or what?”

Rae let out a small, relieved laugh, “You…are the craziest person I’ve ever met! You know that?”

“Heheh…you haven’t spent enough time with Cayde then.” Blaze chuckled as she sat up, “Ugh…I swear, those two royal pains better appreciate this…because I am never fighting another Gate Lord again…”

“If they don’t…well, I doubt we’d be able to do anything to the queen, but agree to punch Uldren in the face?”

“I’ll light my fist on fire, and you can use your void energy drain thing.”

“Deal!” Rae chuckled, “You take a breather. Adam and I will get the head.”

“’Kay…”

Blaze picked herself up off the ground and slouched against a nearby pillar. Firefly appeared and fluttered around the Awoken, healing her wounds, “Nice work, Blazie!”

“Heh…thanks Firefly.” Blaze smiled, petting the Ghost on the head.

As Rae and Adam worked on carefully separating the head from the rest of the Gate Lord’s body, something caught Blaze’s eye. A small glimmer of golden light was emanating from a crack on a toppled pillar, caused by the Gate Lord thrashing about. Intrigued, Blaze quietly got up from where she was resting and made her way towards it. Peering through the crack, Blaze saw an object emanating a gold glow. She used her dagger to pry the crack open further and pulled the object out.

It was a brown rock with golden markings that were glowing brightly. “What is this thing…?” Blaze asked, glancing over the rock in her hands. “There’s something engraved here.” Firefly called to Blaze from the other end of the pillar. On the side of the pillar, Blaze saw a single word carved into the pillar. It had faded over time but was still readable. “Para…gon…?” Blaze sounded out the word, “Isn't that Rae's- ah!” As soon as the word left Blaze’s mouth, the stone shone brightly as a wave of light shot out from it. “W-WHOA! Firefly, did you see that? …Firefly?” Blaze turned to Firefly who seemed to be frozen in mid-air. Blaze glanced around and saw that Rae and Adam, who were separating the Gate Lord head, were also frozen in place. It was as if all of time had completely frozen. “ _Okaaaayyyy…_ ” Blaze muttered to herself as she turned around, “That’s not norma- HOLY FUDGE!!!” Blaze nearly fell backwards in surprise. Floating in front of her was a dragon-like entity made of golden light floating in front of her. “Well, this is curious...” A feminine, motherly voice spoke.

“Greetings, little Lightbearer.”

_To Be Continued..._


	4. Facing the Past - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaze has stumbled upon an old relic that once belonged to a Paragonialan tribe - the same species as Rae - and upon saying the name of the deity, Blaze has come face to face with Paragon herself, who is offering to answer any three questions. Is Blaze ready to face her past, or will she keep running until it catches up to her?

Blaze stared in both awe and shock at the large, golden, serpent-like dragon before her, slack-jawed in awe. She glanced over to Rae, who was still frozen in time, and stared at the golden dragon symbol on her robes. She glanced at the dragon. Then Rae. Then the dragon. Then Rae. She did this several more times before pointing at the dragon and then at Rae, “You…are you…?”

The dragon giggled, “Yes, I am Paragon. I must say, your reaction to summoning me is the best one I’ve had in centuries! Hmm…” Paragon swirled around Blaze a bit before floating in front of her, “You’re probably wondering about that stone you found, yes?”

Blaze nodded. “Well, that stone is an old relic that belonged to the Paralian tribe here on Venus that was used to seek answers to any questions they had. Sadly, they were wiped out during the Collapse by Vex, but it seems they managed to keep the relic safe by sealing it away. Thank the Traveller too. From what I hear, Vex aren’t great conversationalists.” Paragon explained with a small chuckle, “By holding this stone and saying my name, it will summon me, and I will answer any question you have to the best of my ability. You may summon me up to three times. After that, you won’t be able to summon me for another 100 years. You can use the last two any time you like, but you cannot summon me without asking a question…unless you want time to be frozen forever. So, any questions, little Lightbearer?”

“Any question, huh?” Blaze muttered, placing her hand over where her ring hung from her neck under her armour. “Correct.” Paragon replied, “Preferably any question about past events. I believe the future is never certain, so my answers about the future may not be 100% accurate.”

Blaze hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath, “Back up to leap forward...screw it. It’s now or never.” Blaze took out her ring and showed it to Paragon, “Paragon, when I was revived by my ghost, I had this ring with me. It triggered a fuzzy memory of a person giving it to me. Whoever it was…I can’t shake the feeling that they’re really important to me…so my question is this. Paragon, why is this ring so important? Tell me what I forgot.”

“I see…well first off, that’s a beautiful ring! Whoever gave you this must've cared deeply about you.” Paragon began, “And secondly, I can do better than tell you. I can show you.” Paragon touched Blaze’s forehead with the tip of her tail as everything around Blaze turned into white light.

* * *

“Damn…where is it..?”

“Is something the matter, brother?”

Mara Sov, queen of the Reef, glanced at her brother, Uldren Sov, who was searching around the throne room for something. “Apologies, your grace.” Uldren replied, “But I seemed to have misplaced my knife.”

“It is unlike you to be unorganised.” Mara noted.

“Again, I apologise. I’m sure it’s-”

Uldren was caught off by the sound of footsteps approaching the throne alongside whistling.

A blue-skinned Awoken with red hair that turned gold at the tips, fiery red eyes and pale yellow, orange and red markings on her face. She wore a black one-piece suit under short blue and gold dress with a knife attached to the belt and matching shoes, metal knee and shoulder armour, a bluish-black cape attached to the shoulder armour and had a blue and red emblem fastened to her chest with brown straps. This was Blaisel ‘Blaze’ Kiria, one of the Reef's soldiers. Some knew her as the Hell Phoenix. Uldren just calls her the bane of his existence.

Blaze walked into the throne room, whistling to herself, while tossing a knife into the air and catching it by its hilt several times. Wait a second…that knife…

Uldren narrowed his eyes in a glare at Blaze. She glanced between the blade in her hand and the glaring Prince, "Oh! Were you looking for this lil' thing, your highness? No offense, but you should keep a closer eye on your things."

Uldren let out an exasperated sigh as he snatched the knife out of her hands, the smirk never leaving the fiery-haired Awoken's face, “Why do you...how do you even manage to steal it without me knowing?”

“It’s not my fault his royal cluelessness is so gullible!” Blaze grinned.

“As much as I find this display amusing.” Mara interrupted, “There is something I need to discuss with the both of you.”

“Of course, your grace.” Blaze curtsied to Mara as Uldren placed the knife back into its sheath on his belt. “I’ve noticed that as of late, you’ve seemed…bored, Blaisel. For a lack of a better word.”

“With all respect, your grace, while I honour my role as one of your soldiers,” Blaze smiled, “I have found myself with nothing to do here in the Reef. No one here ever wishes to spar, and I find myself just aimlessly wandering when I am not needed by you. The only amusement I get is teasing his highness.” Blaze held up Uldren’s knife once more. “Wh-?” Uldren glanced down at his belt and saw his knife was once again missing, “Seriously?”

Blaze giggled before tossing Uldren the knife and continuing, “I would appreciate any task given by you, your grace.”

“Very well.” Mara began, “I have a new task for you that will both keep you busy and entertained.”

_‘Finally…’ Uldren thought to himself, ‘I won’t have to worry about her pestering me every second of the-’_

“You will be serving my brother as one of his Crows.”

_‘…wait…what?’_

Uldren’s face went pale as he glanced towards Blaze, who shot a mischievous grin at the prince before smiling innocently at the queen, “I’d be honoured to serve your brother. You can rely on me, your grace!”

“I know.” Mara nodded, “You’re dismissed.” Blaze curtsied once more before turning to Uldren, “If you need me, your highness, I’ll be training. I have to be up to your standards, after all!” Blaze then turned to leave but not before muttering, “Or lack thereof.”

“W-why you-!” Uldren turned to glare at Blaze, but she had already run off. Uldren sighed, “With all due respect, your grace, Blaze and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on most things. I struggle to see why she would be assigned to the Crows.”

Mara leaned back in her throne slightly before speaking, “Blaisel is…carefree to say the least. But she isn’t as immature as she may seem. She merely finds satisfaction in entertaining others. And in provoking you, it seems.” Mara paused for a moment before continuing, “How about this? Go watch Blaisel during her time training. If you still feel that she is unfit to be a Crow, I fill find her another task.”

Uldren bowed, “As you wish, your grace.”

* * *

“Blaisel? A Crow?”

Jolyon Till, a close friend of Uldren’s, walked with the prince towards a small arena within the Reef where soldiers would frequently spar and train. “Unfortunately.” Uldren sighed, “I respect my sister’s decision, but I don’t know why my sister decided to make a jester of all people a Crow. What is she going to do? Joke the enemies to death? Though I suppose she has stolen my knife several times…”

“Wait. Jester?” Jolyon raised an eyebrow, “You serious? You really don’t know much about the Hell Phoenix, do you?”

“…I’m sorry, ‘Hell Phoenix’?”

Jolyon motioned to the railing overlooking the arena, “See for yourself.”

Uldren looks over the railing and saw Blaze standing in the arena with several training dummies and obstacles around her. She had a bow with a flame-coloured feather dangling from the bottom slung over her shoulder with a quiver on her back. She had her own knife, which had a blue and red hilt with bandages wrapped around it, on her belt and a sidearm holstered at her side. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Her eyes then snapped open as she whipped her knife from her belt and charged at the nearest dummy, slicing its neck. She did the same to all the dummies she passed as she scaled a large pillar-like obstacle with ease. She whipped a few arrows out from her quiver and shot the remaining dummies in the arena in quick succession. She then jumped off the obstacle via a back-flip, landing perfectly. She glanced around at the training dummies – some with slashes, some with arrows in them – and smiled with pride. She twirled her knife on her finger by the hilt before putting it back on her belt and then slung her bow on her shoulder again.

“Well…that was unexpected.” Uldren gazed at the soldier in awe. He had never seen Blaze fight before. He had only seen her mess around to entertain Mara or poke fun at him. But she was an actual talented fighter. “But, why the nickname? ‘Hell Phoenix’? Seems rather intense for someone so cheerful.”

“Give it a moment.” Jolyon nodded towards the arena. Uldren saw a few soldiers enter the arena. They were talking with each other before noticing Blaze in the arena and immediately stopped talking. They tried to back away, but Blaze had already noticed them. She spun around and grinned at the shoulders, “Hey, guys! You guys won’t believe what happened today!” The soldiers backed up nervously, glancing at each other. “Oh, right! You guys probably aren’t here just to talk, right?” Blaze laughed, “Let’s spar! Training with dummies isn’t than exciting.”

“Uhhh…n-no thanks…” One of the soldiers stuttered nervously. A look of recognition crossed Blaze’s face which quickly changed to one of concern, “Oh, Mikaj! How’s the arm? I’m really sorry about last week. I swear I didn’t mean to burn you.”

“Wait. Burn?” Uldren muttered to himself as he watched the scene unfold.

Blaze took a step towards the soldiers, but they all took several steps back in fear. “H-hey! I've gotten it under control now...kinda. I’m not gonna-!” Blaze was cut off as the group quickly left the arena. Blaze's expression saddened before slowly shifting to anger as she clenched her fists tightly. In the blink of an eye, Blaze punched the side of the pillar, leaving a large dent in it as her entire body was engulfed in flames. Uldren stumbled back in surprise, holding an arm up to block his face as he could feel the heat of the flames from where he was standing, which was a good few feet above the arena. Uldren lowered his arm to see the flames had disappeared and a large scorch mark was in the middle of the arena. In the centre was Blaze, seemingly uninjured by the flames, curled up into a ball with her face buried in her knees and her arms wrapped around them.

“That’s why they call her the Hell Phoenix.” Jolyon explained, “No one can explain it, but whenever Blaisel loses her temper or gets upset, she becomes engulfed in flames but stays unharmed. Anything or anyone in close proximity to her, however, aren’t so lucky. Not even she knows how she does it. Says she's been able to do it ever since she became Awoken but doesn't have any memories before then. Everyone tends to avoid getting close to her, so it hasn't done wonders for her confidence. To be honest, I've only seen her really smile when she's around the queen and you.”

“My sister and I?” Uldren seemed surprised and confused. “You and Mara are the only ones who don't show fear around her.” Jolyon replied. Uldren glanced down at Blaze once more before walking down a flight of stairs that lead to the arena’s entrance.

“I’ll be right back.”

_To be continued…_


	5. Facing the Past - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaze is slowly regaining her memories of her past life - the life she had serving Uldren as a Crow. But the questions still remain: how is her ring linked to this, how did Uldren know about it, and how did she wind up on Earth?

Uldren slowly entered the arena, the ground scorched by Blaze’s flames. Blaze was sitting in the centre of the arena, still with her head hidden in her knees. Uldren sat down on the ground beside her and spoke up after a moment of silence, being careful not to startle her, “Well…I have to say, I never expected you to be that skilled at fighting.”

Blaze just sat there in silence, refusing to even acknowledge Uldren’s presence.

"How did you do that, anyway? The fire powers, I mean."

No response.

“You know, it’s rude to ignore someone if they’re talking to you.”

"...I...I can't remember how or why I have it but because of it, I've been able to do a couple of things. I can react to some things before they even happen, I can see visions on the future every once in a while, and…” Blaze glanced down at the scorch marks on the ground, “I can do that. I can create, manipulate, and even set myself on fire without getting injured. However, the latter usually only happens when I get angry. I’ve gotten the ‘affectionate’ nickname of the Hell Phoenix. The other soldiers take one look at me and bail. Nobody wants to get burned during a sparring match…or worse…” Blaze just sighed as she turned away, “Look, forget I said anything. If you want to tell Mara that you don't want me as a Crow, go ahead. I don’t blame you in fairness. It was only a matter of time before you saw the ‘monster’ everyone’s so afraid of.”

Uldren was silent for a moment before replying, "Well, I think you're exaggerating a little when you say 'monster'."

"..."

"Are you going back to ignoring me now?"

"..."

"I'm not leaving until you say something."

"Something."

"Okay, that's fair." Uldren sighed before a mischivous smirk appeared on his face. as he poked Blaze's shoulder.

“Your highness, I’m not in the mood for games.”

_Poke._

“Uldren. I’m serious. Stop.”

_Poke._

"Uldren."

_Poke._

_Poke._

_PokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePokePo-_

**“UGH!!! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!?!?!”**

Blaze lunged at Uldren in a furious rage. Uldren dodged and blocked her attacks as Blaze kept trying to land a hit on Uldren. Jolyon just looked on in horror as Uldren sparred with the furious guard, 'Has Uldren lost his mind? He’s going to be burned to ashes!' Jolyon’s face then shifted to confusion as Uldren briefly shot him a reassuring smirk as he countered some of Blaze’s blows. “Just what is he planning…?”

_An hour later…_

Blaze and Uldren stood several feet from each other, facing each other, both out of breath. Blaze growled as she whipped out her knife and charged at Uldren. However, Uldren quickly grabbed her arm which held her knife with one hand and held his own knife at her throat with the other. The two glared at each other for a moment before Blaze sighed in defeat and flopped backwards onto her back. “Alright, alright…I give…” she sighed, trying to catch her breath, “Geez…what was that for anyway…?”

“Well, you wanted to spar with someone, didn’t you?” Uldren asked, “Also, if this fire power of yours is linked to your anger, maybe you need a healthy outlet to help control it.”

Blaze sat up and looked at Uldren in surprise and confusion, “You…you’re really not afraid of me, are you?”

“What’s there to be afraid of?”

“Heh…that’s a first…so…you’re okay with a living fireball being a Crow?”

Uldren just chuckled as he extended a hand to Blaze to help her to her feet, “I can think of worse Awoken to fill the position. That's not even a joke: some of the soldiers here are even more insufferable than Guardians.” Blaze laughed at Uldren's comment and took his hand, a small blush dusting her cheeks, as the prince helped her to her feet. “If you’re up for it,” Uldren began, “Jol and I are going on a…how should I put it…'secret mission’. We could use an extra hand.”

“Secret mission, huh?” Blaze smirked, “Sounds like fun. Count me in!”

Blaze glanced down and noticed that her hand was still in Uldren’s, causing her blush to worsen. Uldren followed her gaze and seemed to notice the same thing as the two both let go at the same time, playing it off as no big deal. Uldren cleared his throat, “Well. We leave for Mars tomorrow morning. Meridian Bay.”

“Y-yeah. Sounds like a plan!”

“Alright then. See you tomorrow.”

Uldren turned towards the arena entrance and began to leave. “H-hey, Uldren?” Blaze called after him, causing him to look over his shoulder. Blaze smiled at him – not a cocky smirk or a playful grin, but a genuine smile, “Thanks. I mean it.”

Uldren seemed caught off guard for a moment before smiling, “You’re welcome.” And then proceeded to leave the arena. After Uldren was out of earshot, a look of realisation appeared on her face before she bumped her head on the nearby pillar, "Nope. Mm-mm. No way. I'm not...”

* * *

The Gate Lord towered above them. Uldren whooped and hip-fired a couple rounds into the sand at its feet. “Can you dance, sir?” he bellowed. “Have you got the footwork?”

“I think Uldren’s finally lost it.” Jolyon sighed. “I think he lost it a long time ago, Jol.” Blaze laughed. The bone mic tuned to Cabal tactical channels woke up at Uldren’s throat. They had localised the sound of Jolyon’s rifle and Blaze’s sidearm and were responding. He hollered up at the Vex behemoth and started to jig. “It’s going to rain on Mars! It’s monsoon season in Meridian Bay! Did you see the forecast?” He grabbed Jolyon and Blaze by the hands and pulled. Together, they sprinted towards the Gate Lord and its charge. As the Gate Lord raised a weapon to obliterate them, the trio skidded into the Gate’s threshold, and Uldren activated a deflection grenade. A perfect sphere of topologically defective space-time blinked into being around them. He held Jolyon and Blaze close, and together they calmed their breath. The barrier was impenetrable, but it wouldn’t last long. Until then there is only so much air to breathe. Outside, the full fury of a Cabal fleet carrier landed on the Gate Lord.

When the barrier faded, the Gate Lord was dead, and Uldren, Blaze and Jolyon were no longer on Mars. “Well…that worked.” Jolyon muttered. “And here I was thinking this mission would be dull!” Blaze chuckled, "Speaking of, I'm never letting go of the fact that you challenged a Vex to a dance off."

"You better let go of it!" Uldren feigned anger. "Nope! It's now eternally engraved into my memory!" Blaze laughed. "Let's find somewhere to keep dry until we plan our next move." Jolyon spoke up, interrupting the two's banter.

* * *

Blaze, Uldren and Jolyon huddled together, shivering beneath a canopy of white tongues. The rain poured down. Uldren couldn’t tell where it came from, exactly — somewhere up in the green mist? But the rain fell and fell; and the three turned their heads up to drink, there at the bottom of a chasm between two flower fields, where the Garden’s immaculate surface divided into tropical fetor. “The flowers here sure are pretty.” Blaze commented as she gazed at one of the flower fields, “It’s kinda odd how the Vex are machines yet this place seems like it’s full of life.”

“Everything grows here,” Jolyon muttered, motioning to Uldren, “Look at your nails.”

Uldren studied his hand. He had a dreadful image of his fingernails developing into tight down-curved loops that curled around back into his fingers, completing a hideous circuit to their root. It’s awful and yet it’s wonderful, in a transgressive way, in a new-born screaming way. It spoke to him of new and secret things happening there. “They’re dirty,” he said, “but I trust you’ll forgive me on that account. Rain’s not letting up. Shall we move?”

“Yeah.”

“Aye.” Jolyon hauled himself up when Blaze noticed a fistful of slithering vines on his arm, “Er, Jol? You got a lil’ something on your…” Blaze trailed off as the vines tried to coil around Jolyon’s wrist, tiny teeth shaped like letters sawing at his skin. He stared at them and jerked his arm away.

“Are you all right?”

“For now,” Jolyon muttered. “For now.”

They moved down the length of the chasm, green mist swirling overhead, ankle-deep in a wet compost of flower petals and rich black soil. Wide, flat beetles with arching horns wrestled in the earth. Uldren flipped one on its back. The beetle had no interior, seen from below, it was just a hollow shell. Blaze found a Vex Goblin arm covered in moss, lying on the ground and picked it up. "Hey, Jol. Need a hand?" Blaze snickered as she placed the hand on Jol's shoulder, causing him to jump before realising it was just Blaze and regained his composure, "Please stop messing around, this is serious." Blaze just stuck her tongue out at Jolyon, earning a small chuckle from Uldren, before going back to investigating the old Vex parts littering the ground. Jolyon pulled up a fern, and its roots were the branching metallic threads of a circuit board. Tiny squirming things shaped like wet microchips milled in the exposed soil. “I don’t like this place,” Jolyon whispered. “We should get back to the surface…”

He meant the Garden’s surface, the manicured sectors of red flowers that stretch away toward a distant mesa. _‘It’s far too Vex up there.’_ , Uldren thought, _‘They’ve been in here, gardening, moving earth, making walls, building their ancient constructs of stone and light, trying to tame this place.’_

“It’s life,” he breathed. “You’re right, Jol. Everything grows here…”

He cannot let this place be killed. He cannot let it be looted and overthrown like everything else that doesn’t fit into the narrow binary dogmas of the Traveller’s undead warriors. Excitement seized him as he grabbed Blaze's arm and ran ahead, sloshing through the muck, laughing aloud.

“Uldren!” Jolyon shouted after him, “What are you looking for?”

“I don’t know!” he cried back. “That’s what’s so incredible! I can’t know!”

Blaze, caught off guard by Uldren suddenly hoisting her to her feet, gazed at Uldren as he ran – she’d never seen Uldren this excited about anything before. Unable to stifle laughter, Blaze shook away her surprise and ran after the Awoken prince, “Hey, wait up! I’m not letting Mara blame me for you getting shot!” As she ran after Uldren, Blaze thought to herself, _‘Maybe…even if it's just for a while…it’s ok for me to feel this way…just for a moment…’_

* * *

Those feelings, however, never left. Blaze stared out at purple, starry sky from the hanger in the Vestian Outpost. Memories of the dreams she had when training to become a member of the Royal Awoken Guard. Dreams of sailing through the stars outside the Reef, dreams of being seen as a hero in the eyes of her fellow Awoken, dreams of finally having a place to belong. But she’s never left the Reef. Most of her fellow guards are still wary of her, some calling her a monster. And yet…she feels like she does finally have a place she belongs. Not just at the Reef. But at Uldren’s side. All the feelings of loneliness, the feelings of hatred towards herself and her curse, the feelings of fear that she’ll never be good enough. Those feelings all suddenly disappear when she’s with Uldren. With him, she feels happy, at peace, and content with herself, and the fears of not being good enough and the opinions of others don’t seem to matter anymore…

…she just wished she didn’t have to leave.

A few days prior, Blaze received one of her visions. It flew by in a blur, but she recalled seeing a giant ship ploughing through Saturn’s rings, a large blast coming from the ship, and hundreds of Awoken ships crashing and exploding. Even if she isn’t present or involved in the vision shown to her, Blaze can see future events at random times. However, these visions can come days or months before the event happens. But upon being informed of this vision, Uldren didn’t want to take any chances. It took a while of convincing, but Uldren managed to get Mara’s permission to send Blaze to the only place he could think of where she would be safe. The Last City, planet Earth. Uldren despised Guardians as much as his sister, but he couldn’t deny that it was currently the safest place in the solar system where Blaze could stay until the tragedy that she saw in her vision passed.

Blaze’s thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a presence beside her. “You know…I’ve seen the view from here hundreds upon hundreds of times.” Uldren spoke, “Yet it never seems to get old.”

“Yeah. I’m really going to miss this…” Blaze sighed, continuing to stare out at the stars, “I don’t wanna leave…”

“I know.” Uldren put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “But it’s only until the tragedy at Saturn passes. Then I’ll come find you. I promise.”

Blaze smiled sadly, a small blush on her cheeks, as she faced Uldren, “You know, the view here…it’s only the second-most thing I’m going to miss.”

Uldren raised an eyebrow, “What’s the first?”

“You.”

Uldren seemed surprised for a moment, before smiling, “Well, it’s a good thing I got this then. Give me your hand.” Uldren removed his hand from Blaze’s shoulder and extended it to her. Blaze put her hand on his as Uldren pulled something out of a pocket on his belt and slipped it onto Blaze’s finger. It was a silver ring with a shiny fire agate stone in the centre that shone brightly like a flame. “I had this ring made for you. As long as you keep it with you, I’ll be right beside you…I promise.”

Blaze gazed at the ring in awe, beginning to tear up a bit, “I…I actually don’t know what to say for once…thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Blaze didn’t know what exactly happened. She didn’t know who had made the first move. But she found herself in Uldren’s arms, her own wrapped behind his neck, as the two Awoken kissed each other, backdropped by the purple starry sky of the Reef. As the two slowly pulled away, Uldren pressed his forehead against Blaze’s, “I won’t forget you, my phoenix.”

“I won't either, my crow.” Blaze grinned.

* * *

“Gah! Sons of...!”

Blaze panicked as she struggled to keep her ship flying as she entered Earth’s atmosphere. She had been fired upon by a Hive ship which had spotted her approaching Earth. “Come on, come on! Please stay flying!” Blaze begged.

_***BLAM!*** _

"ARGH!!!

The Hive ship fired once again, taking out her ship’s engine. “Oh no! No, no, no!!!” Blaze cried. Warning sirens blared in the cockpit as the ship began to hurtle towards the ground. Blaze could only watch in horror as the ground came spiralling closer and closer to her. _‘Uldren…’_ Blaze thought, _‘I’m sorry…I won’t be coming back…forgive me…’_

***BOOM!!!***

Everything was dark. Blaze - a soul devoted to her prince; whose bravery knew no bounds; who sacrificed her own happiness to ensure she’d be able to live alongside those she cared about – had died on impact when her ship crashed several hundreds of miles outside the Last City on Earth.

It was the end of Blaze, Royal Guard of the Reef…

And the start of Blaze, Hunter Guardian of Earth.

* * *

The darkness faded as Blaze found herself back on Venus, staring at her ring that lay in her hands as she heard Paragon speak, “Everyone has moments in their past that makes them happy and moments that make them sad. But the past can also help shape the future, if one decides to learn from it. You’re past didn’t have a happy ending. It’s set in stone, unchanging no matter how much you wish it would change. But your future is still unwritten. And it’s what you decide to do here in the present that will shape it. Keep my relic with you, little Lightbearer. I’m interested in seeing how you’ll shape your future...”

And in the blink of an eye, Paragon was gone.

“Ah! There you are!” Blaze jumped a bit heard Rae climb onto the pillar and speak from behind – she didn’t notice that time had unfrozen, “We’ve finished cutting off the head, and Ghost is going to hold it until we get back to the Re- huh? …Blaze? Why are you crying? Are you okay?”

Blaze held a hand up to her cheek and, sure enough, there were tears rolling down her face. Blaze took a deep breath as she slipped her ring onto her finger.

“There’s something I need to tell you guys.”

_To Be Continued…_


	6. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaze has recalled all of her memories. Uldren Sov, prince of the Reef, was her lover in her past life. Now Blaze faces the choice of whether she should tell Uldren about her reclaimed memories or keep them a secret. Meanwhile, Adam has a crush?

“I couldn’t remember anything. Didn’t know who I was, where I was, or even where I was from. Then Firefly pointed out my ring. It had that message on the inside with my name. That’s when that memory of receiving the ring came back. Fuzzy, but it was there.” Blaze explained as she and the rest of Fireteam Paralight headed back towards their ships. “So your lover - the person who gave you the ring - is Uldren?” Rae pipes up.

“Yup.”

“Uldren. Prince of the Awoken. Hates Guardians. Smug as hell. That Uldren?”

“Yup.”

“Well…that’s awkward…”

“Tell me about it…” Blaze sighed, “Ugh…what do I do now? Do I tell him? I mean, he hates Guardians... Should I just pretend that I don't remember anything?”

“Well…” Rae began, “Do you still love him? I mean, by the way you looked and sounded when you described your time with him, you seemed really happy.”

Blaze glanced down at the ring on her finger. She looked back on all of the memories she had regained: becoming a Crow; him sparring with her in the arena; the two of them exploring the Black Garden with Jolyon; and the kiss they shared after Uldren gave her the ring before she left for Earth. Thinking about these memories caused a strange feeling to well up in her chest. It was a familiar feeling.

“…yeah.” Blaze rubbed her ring with her thumb, a small smile on her face, “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, I’m no love expert,” Rae began, “But by how you described how he spent time with you, it seems like he cares about you too. I’m sure if you told him you remember him again, he’ll understand.”

Adam nodded in agreement, a smile on his face. “Heh…usually all this mushy stuff isn’t my thing…” Blaze grinned sheepishly, “But…thanks guys. Seriously. If I didn’t have you guys and the Vanguard…I might’ve not had the courage to get my memories back…”

“Hey, we may not always see eye-to-eye on somethings,” Rae began as they got closer to where their ships were, “But we’re more than just a team. We’re friends. We’re always gonna be there for each other no matter what.”

Blaze grinned, “Yeah! You ain’t getting rid of me anytime soon, got it?”

Rae laughed, “Got it! Now let’s get back to the Reef and give the Queen this Vex head.”

“Don’t get ‘a-head’ of yourself!”

“Aaaaand there’s the old Blaze.”

"Which one?"

"Oh, ha-ha!"

* * *

Fireteam Paralight walked towards the throne room in the Reef. Blaze had her usual look of confidence, but Rae could see her hand was visibly shaking. Even with the time between leaving Venus and arriving on the Reef, she still had no idea on what she was going to say to Uldren. “Hey.” Rae put a hand on Blaze’s shoulder, “It’ll be okay. Just be yourself. That’s who he fell in love with, right?”

“Yeah…yeah, I can do that!” Blaze smiled. The three Guardians turned their attention to the throne as they approached. Mara was leaning comfortably in the throne with her Fallen guards at her side. Uldren was standing by the throne, his back to the throne room entrance. Mara watched the Fireteam approach the throne, “They’re still alive. And still have their balls.”

“PFFT-!” Blaze slapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. Uldren turned around to glance at the struggling Hunter. Rae just sighed, “When I said ‘be yourself’, I meant ‘be yourself while being an ADULT’, Blaze.”

“*snicker* Sorry! I’m an adult, I promise!” Blaze giggled. Uldren let out a quiet snicker before masking it by clearing his throat and addressing Rae, “There’s no shame in running away, Guardians.” Uldren said, smugly, “Apart from the cowardice and failure of it, it’s an excellent strategy.”

“We didn’t run.” Rae glared at Uldren. “Or challenge it to a dance-off…like some people.” Blaze grinned, mimicking Uldren’s smug tone. Everyone in the room shot Blaze a confused look, Uldren seeming surprised by the statement. “What?” Blaze shrugged, “Just sayin’.”

“Was no Gate Lord slain, brother?” Mara asked.

“Oh, we slayed a Gate Lord.” Ghost stated with a proud tone. “Ghost, if you would be so kind?” Blaze outstretched her arms, motioning with her head for Ghost to summon the head in her arms. “Er, alright. If you say so…” Ghost gave Blaze an odd look before beginning to summon the head. “Blaze hold up! That thing’s not-” Rae began but it was too late. The head materialised in the air and…

_*WHOOSH!*_

“GAH!!!”

***C L A N G ! ! !***

Blaze immediately dropped to the floor as the head landed in her arms, dragging her down with it.

“…light.” Rae finished with a sigh before addressing Uldren, “We need to find the Black Garden.”

Uldren scoffed lightly, “They don’t even know where it is.”

“Let us tell them.” Mara added, “Search the Gate Lord for that which gains them entrance.”

“Why?!” Uldren turned to face Mara, “If you wish them certain death, just kill them here!”

“Often, when we guess at others’ motives, we reveal only our own.”

“My motive is simply loyalty, to a people,” Uldren kneeled beside Mara, “A Queen and a sister.”

“Then, please.” Mara began, “Take what is required.”

“Uh…I don’t want to interrupt the sibling bonding moment here but…a little help…?” Blaze chuckled nervously, “Kinda losing all feeling in my arms here…”

Uldren turned and began to walk down the steps of the throne and rolled the head off Blaze’s arms. Blaze hopped to her feet, rubbing her arms in pain, and grinned at Uldren, “Thanks!”

Uldren seemed to just ignore her as he pulled out his knife and knelt down beside the head, stabbing at it as he pried the eye out of the head. As he stood up, the red light of the eye dimmed and went out. Uldren smirked as he held it up, “Dead, unfortunately.” Uldren feigned sympathy, before showing the eye to his sister “A wasted journey I’m afraid.”

“Perhaps.” Mara glanced briefly between the eye and the Guardians, “But I think these ones resourceful. We gift it, in sympathy for their Traveller.”

Uldren glanced at the eye in his hand before glaring at Rae, “Mars. Eighty-four north. Thirty-two east. Meridian Bay.” Uldren proceeded to toss the eye at Rae, but it was snatched in mid-air by Blaze. “Couldn’t help myself.” Blaze chuckled, tossing the eye in the air once before catching it again, “But you gotta admit, I’ve pretty good reflexes, huh? It’s almost like I can see things before they happen!”

Uldren didn’t seem to pay any mind to her. ‘Oh for Light’s sake, I cannot be more obvious here! You're lucky I'm in love with you, you stupid genius!’ Blaze yelled in her head. Mara raised from her throne and stared down at the Guardians, “I have shown you benevolence, Guardians. Should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you. And expect you to answer.”

Uldren attached his knife back onto his belt before glaring at the Guardians, “She’s saying you owe us, Guardians.”

“I understand.” Rae replied before bowing her head at Mara, “Your Grace.”

Rae turned to leave with Adam, but noticed Blaze wasn’t moving, “Blaze?”

“…you guys go on ahead. I’ll meet you at the outpost.” Blaze grinned at her fellow Guardians. Rae nodded, understanding what Blaze was up to, and proceeded to leave with Adam. “Good luck!” Uldren called after them before muttering, “…getting past the Exclusion Zone.” Blaze turned to Mara, “Your Grace, if I may be bold enough to ask you one more small favour?”

“I’m listening.” Mara replied as she sat back down on her throne. “May I request to speak with Prince Uldren in private?” Blaze asked, “There’s something I need to discuss.”

Mara glanced at Uldren who was staring at the Awoken Hunter with an unreadable expression. “Very well.” Mara replied.

Blaze and Uldren stepped outside of the throne room. “So, Guardian.” Uldren began, seeming fed up with the situation, “Give me one good reason why I should entertain the notion of conversing and not walk away right now.”

Blaze just held up a knife in her hand, a small smile on her face, “’Cause I know ya missed me.” Uldren stared wide-eyed at the knife. That was his. He glanced down to where he had previously put his knife on his belt and, sure enough, it was gone. Slowly, a look of realisation appeared on his face as he looked back at Blaze. Blaze shrugged, still smiling, “I’m…I’m back. To be honest, I was trying to be super obvious about it. Heheh!” Blaze chuckled, albeit nervously, before her smile dropped slightly, “When I was revived by my ghost, I had only one memory…and it was brought back to me when I saw the ring you gave me. It was really fuzzy, but I remembered that whoever gave me the ring…they meant a lot to me. And I was scared of getting my memories back because I didn’t want a hoard of bad memories to ruin that good one. Rae, one of the Guardians on my team, convinced me otherwise. Then I found a relic on Venus and, long-story-short, I was able to ask for the memories I had of that person back…and I saw you.” Blaze began to tear up again, but attempted to mask it by smiling and laughing slightly, “I guess I suck at keeping promises, huh? I promised you I’d never forget you…my ship got shot down when I was heading to Earth and I forgot everything…I swear I never meant for-”

Blaze was cut off by the sudden presence of arms wrapping around her and herself being pulled against an armoured chest. “U-Uldren?” Blaze stuttered in surprise as she glanced up at Uldren. Uldren stared into her eyes – her bangs had fallen to the side – as if he was searching for something, before finally speaking, “…it’s you.”

Blaze smiled, finally letting the tears flow out, “Yeah…it’s me.”

Uldren briefly placed his lips on Blaze's before pressing his forehead to hers as he muttered, “Welcome back, my phoenix.”

Blaze draped her arms around his shoulders, “Good to be back, my crow…” The two stood in comfortable silence for a moment before Blaze spoke up, a cheeky smile on her face, "You realise this means you have to get along with Rae and Adam now, right?"

"Don't remind me." Uldren groaned, "Death would be a sweeter fate."

"Well you have a Guardian for a lover now, so you should be able to get along with a few Guardians too."

"I'll make an attempt. But only for you." Uldren sighed, a small smile on his face.

"Good enough." Blaze chuckled.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rae, Ghost, Adam and Stormbringer were in the Vestian Outpost. “So Blaze used to live here? I have to admit, this place is a mix of cool and creepy.” Rae spoke.

“The Reef can be a maze if you’re not used to it.”

Rae and Adam turned to see a female Awoken tossing a knife in the air and catching it. She had light periwinkle skin, bright blue eyes – the left one covered by a black and gold eye patch – and plum hair that was braided along the side and was tied into a bun. She wore a purple and black armour with the Queen’s emblem on it. A faint blush appeared on Adam’s face when he saw Petra. “Adam, are you alright? Your heart rate just spiked-” Stormbringer began but was cut off by Adam grabbing him and diving behind a crate to hide. “Well that was interesting…” The Awoken chuckled. “Sorry about that. He’s not usually that shy.” Rae laughed nervously, “I’m Rae. This is my Ghost. And the Guardian who just did a heroic dive behind those crates was Adam.”

“Heroic is one word for it. I’m Petra Venj, Emissary for the Queen.” Petra extended a hand to shake Rae’s, which she gladly accepted, “Pleasure!” Rae turned to the crate where Adam was hiding, “Adam, we saw you! Stop hiding and get out here.”

Adam slowly got up from behind the crate and gave Petra a shy wave. “Not one for talking, I see.” Petra noted as she waved back. “Adam took a vow of silence, so he doesn’t speak. He usually has his ghost, Stormbringer do that for him.” Rae explained. “A pleasure to meet you, Adam." Petra nodded at Adam, who looked off to the side while trying to hide his blush, as Petra addressed Rae again, "From what I've heard, rumour has it that your teammate is none other than the Hell Phoenix herself – Blaisel Kiria.” Petra began, “I haven't met her personally, but I’ve heard from other guards that her temper is something to behold.”

“Well, her temper does cause her to explode, literally.” Rae muttered the last part before continuing, “But she’s not as bad as most make her out to be. Sure, she can be reckless, impulsive and a tad hot-headed, but she takes her role as a Hunter seriously. She’s had out back’s in more fights than I can count, honestly. She even laid the finishing blow to the Gate Lord back on Venus.”

“Striking down a Gate Lord? I have to admit, that's impressive. Sounds like she-”

“Variks, for the love of Light, I didn’t let you near my ship when I was a Royal Guard, so I’m definitely not going to let you near my new ship now! Amanda will have my head if this new one gets damaged!”

“Speak of the phoenix…” Rae muttered. The three looked over to where Blaze, Firefly by her side, seemed to be conversing, rather loudly, with a Fallen Vandal. “What is she up to now?” Ghost sighed as he followed Petra and the two Guardians to where Blaze and the Vandal were. “Finished flirting your boyfriend, Blaze?” Rae smirked. “Wha-?! I-I wasn't-! I mean-!” Blaze sputtered in surprise, earning a chuckle from Variks. “Variks, don’t laugh at that.” Blaze sighed, “This is Variks. He’s an Eliksni and Warden of the Prison of Elders.”

“Eliksni?” Rae raised a confused eyebrow. “You call us Fallen, an unflattering name.” Variks began, “But I am Variks of House Judgement.“

“Oh…sorry. I didn’t want to come off as insulting.” Rae apologised, “I’ll try to remember the proper term.”

"Good, good. We are friends now.”

“Whatever you do…DON’T let him near the ships. Trust me, it won’t end well…” Blaze muttered to Rae as Variks continued, “The Eliksni call you fierce killer, taker of great ships!”

“Taker of great ships?” Rae thought for a minute, before realising something, “Oh…oh yeah!” Rae remembered the Fallen that attacked her and Ghost when they found the jumpship the day she was revived, “Yeah…Ghost and I needed that ship to get to the City.”

“Ghost?” Variks seemed to perk up a bit. “Oh Traveller, no…” Blaze muttered.

“We are friends, yes, Guardian?” Variks asked Rae.

“Uhh…yes?” Rae replied, nervously.

“Give me your Ghost.”

“W-WHA-?!”

“And I’m gone!” Ghost squeaked as he disappeared, Stormbringer and Firefly following suit.

“Little Ghost… come out, come out…” Variks leaned closer to Rae, looking for Ghost, with Rae looking very uncomfortable.

“As much as I’d love to see this play out, leave them be Variks.”

Rae glanced behind her to see Uldren approaching the group, an amused smirk on his face. Variks slinked away while muttering something like a growl. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Rae began, “But thanks, Uldren.”

“That sounds like my cue to get back to work.” Petra spoke up, “Good luck out there, Guardians.” Petra shot Adam a brief wink before walking back to her post. Adam’s face went bright red as Stormbringer appeared beside him again, “Adam, your heart rate is spiking again! Are you alright?”

Uldren snickered a bit and Blaze burst out laughing as Adam tried to signal to Storm to be quiet. “Adam, if I didn’t know you better, I’d say you’d have a crush on Petra.” Blaze laughed. “Oh, I’m quite tempted to use this to my advantage.” Uldren smirked. Adam just glared at the two Awoken, still red-faced, before trudging off towards his ship. “Aw, Adam, come on!” Rae called after him, “We were just teasing!”

Adam just disappeared into his ship with Stormbringer. “Well at least you two have something to bond over now, eh?” Blaze grinned glancing between Rae and Uldren, “Maybe you two can be friends after all!” Uldren and Rae stared at each other for a moment before looking away.

“No way.”

“Not happening.”

Blaze shrugged, “Eh, worth a shot!”

“Anyway, we better hit the skies.” Rae began heading to her own ship. “You’re the boss.” Blaze grinned. As Rae and Blaze began to head towards their ships, Uldren put a hand on Blaze’s shoulder, “Hey. Be careful out there. You know how dangerous the Black Garden is.”

“I know. More the reason they need me with them.” Blaze replied, a rare serious expression on her face, “I’m the only one out of myself, Rae and Adam who has been there. And I doubt you want to volunteer to guide them.” Blaze’s expression then turned playful, “Plus I think Jol is still traumatised from the last time.”

Uldren chuckled, “I think anyone would be traumatised after the stunt you pulle with the vex hand.” Uldren sighed, “I can see I can’t convince you not to go.”

“Nope!” Blaze grinned.

“Alright. Be careful out there. And don’t cause too much trouble.”

“Hey, it’s me! Being careful’s all I know! Besides…sometimes you have to back up to go forward.” Blaze smirked as she began to walk away.

_End of Burnt Memories._


End file.
